Pollination 129 



Ohio. This interesting chapter in strawberry history is 

 given elsewhere.^ 



The theory of a division of labor in the blossom. 



Although Longworth's theory that no hermaphrodite 

 variety could be valuable perished with the introduction 

 of the Longworth and the Wilson, many growers con- 

 tinued to believe, and some still affirm, that pistillate 

 sorts, when properly fertilized, are more productive than 

 staminate. The main argument in support of this con- 

 tention is that there is "a division of labor" in the straw- 

 berry blossom. This idea was advanced in Longworth's 

 day in an attempt to explain the fact that the pistillate 

 varieties of that time were more productive than the 

 staminate. It was argued that the production of pollen 

 is an exhausting process ; hence, plants that do not pro- 

 duce pollen are bound to be more productive, if properly 

 pollinated from other plants, than those which develop 

 both pollen and pistils. The fact that a certain number 

 of pistillate varieties are more productive than an equal 

 number of staminate varieties is not proof of this conten- 

 tion. Between 1860 and 1880 the Wilson, a staminate 

 variety, was the most productive sort grown. During 

 this period, A. S. Fuller and other authorities advised 

 against planting pistillate varieties and recommended 

 that none but staminate sorts be introduced thereafter, 

 because of the many mistakes made by growers in plant- 

 ing pistillate sorts without providing a poUinizer. 



Relative productiveness. 



About 1878 the Wilson began to "run out," and there 

 was a decided reaction in favor of pistillate sorts. This 



^ "The Strawberry in North America," Chapter III. 



